Wednesday, June 5, 2013

In a perfect world, we'd be looking forward to picking up the third issue of Andy Diggle's run on Action Comics being released today.

Well, we all know how that turned out.

For those of you still stinging at the loss, you can always look to your back issues, as Andy Diggle did write Superman before in the pages of the wonderfully crafted and endlessly entertaining mini-series from 2004, Adam Strange.

While Superman's role was rather brief in the series (here he can be seen delivering some rather bad news to Adam Strange), there was a harbinger of things to come as I believe Andy Diggle left DC for Marvel after an overly-heavy editorial hand demanded changes in the ending of his story to better line things up for Infinite Crisis.

Sound familiar?

Oh well, some people just can't win.

But don't let that dissuade you from checking out this gem of a story. I know this is a Superman blog, but this is definitely one of my favorite stories from the early 2000's. If nothing else, it does feature some gorgeous artwork by Pascal Ferry and Dave McCaig that truly makes the interstellar vistas and alien backdrops pop to life.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

So I wasn't around in 1959, much less reading Superman comic books, so there is nothing to remember from when I first read this. In fact, the first time I did read this issue was immediately after the Randomizer picked it for a random review. This particular issue is a relatively new addition to my collection, and up to this point it's gotten the cursory thumb through and then cataloged and filed away.

You see, one of the things I've been up to while my two blogs lay fallow has been auction hunting. My LCS started getting into the auction business about two years ago, and lucky for me, he's had a nice and steady supply of Superman Silver Age books on the block. It came at the perfect time, as my collection of Superman books was starting to get into the expensive Silver Age era, now that I had finished up the Bronze Age.

Maybe one of these days I'll put a post up going through my auction finds for fun, but for right now, we're here to talk about Lois Lane!
This book actually has three separate stories, but we're going to focus on the last one featuring America's Favorite Crooner, Pat Boone!

Superman's Mystery Song!

Penciller: Dick Sprang

Inker: John Forte

Editor: Mort Weisinger

THE ELEVATOR PITCH

Lois Lane and Pat Boone team up for a duet honoring Superman! But if it's honoring his exploits and quest for justice, why must Superman make sure no one can ever hear it?

THE RECAP

While picking Lois up at her apartment, Clark discovers what a huge fan she is of Pat Boone! Coincidentally enough (as is so often the case in the Silver Age), Pat Boone is due to be interviewed by The Daily Planet. After the interview, Pat sits in on the rehearsals for the annual Daily Planet office party/talent show. It's there that he overhears Lois singing, and is impressed enough to offer her a spot doing a specialty number on his latest show.

It's decided that Clark will write the lyrics to a special song that Pat and Lois will duet together on. Clark racks his brain for lyrics, but has writer's block and goes to bed. Lucky for him, that a burst of inspiration hits him during a dream, and he wakes up and writes the lyrics for his song.

Superman only then realizes that as they start singing his song on live t.v., that he must stop them! Why? Stay tuned...

Meanwhile, Superman manages to disrupt two more live concerts where Lois and Pat plan on singing their new song honoring Superman. Eventually, Superman let's Pat Boone know that he was the one sabotaging his live performances, as the lyrics that Clark wrote contained a clue to Superman's secret identity. Superman has prepared new lyrics, but when he goes to retrieve them from a pocket inside his cape, they're gone!

Utilizing the powers of his fan club, Pat Boone puts the word out about a missing envelope. It's eventually found and returned to Pat. In gratitude, Superman uses his microscopic vision and photographic memory to restore a broken master disc for one of Pat's latest recordings, while also producing a million copies for distribution at super speed!

Later on that night on live television, the country is finally able to hear the revised version of the duet by Lois Lane and Pat Boone, and we're finally clued in as to why Superman didn't want the original song sung in the first place.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

You can take Lois out of her teens, but you can't take the teenager out of Lois!

Ahhh...1950's, when a "talent" like blowing smoke rings at the office was admired.

Says the man smoking three cigars!

You gotta love a girl who "groans on pitch!"

Even Pat Boone, in his prime, couldn't get the special effects to work for his version of "Rock 'n Roll Creation".

Social media, circa 1959.

...and finally, the real reason Superman couldn't let that song be heard!

And that brings a close to our inaugural random reading. I hope you all enjoyed this look back into the mad-cap world of pop-stardom in the good old days.

Monday, May 27, 2013

This has to be one of the worst costume designs I've seen in a long time. Ladies and gentlemen...I present to you, the Gyronaut!

It's not the aesthetics, as the long blades spanning out from the collar definitely create a "unique" look.

No, this has everything to do with functionality.

It's not bad enough that when in use, the costume has ten steel blades that spin around like a helicopter, thus giving you the ability to fly and make your getaway.

No, the real kicker is that this suit is remote controlled by your partner! That's right, you're up there flying around with the blades of death spinning inches from your neck, and you're not even in control of your own destiny!

Thanks, but I think I'd rather take the bus than strap myself into that flying death-trap.

And as near as I could tell, The Superman Family #196 from July/August 1979 was his only appearance.

What do you think...Potential left unfulfilled, or likely decapitation averted?

Friday, May 24, 2013

Longtime readers are probably aware that my first attempt at comic book blogging was over at The Random Longbox.

It was a site where I would let a highly customized computer randomly pick out a comic book from my vast collection that I would then have to read and talk about. It was a fun way to go through my collection and re-read alot of stuff that I wouldn't normally gravitate to right away.

That site eventually got mothballed and fell into dis-use as my real-life schedule got too complex for regular blogging.
Still, I always enjoyed the randomness of it all, so I'm taking the Randomizer out of storage and hooking it back up here at Superman 101. This time, however, I've reprogrammed it to only select from the Superman family of books.

This blog has always been relatively random as it was, so look forward to things being "very" random in the future...I guess? At the very least, we'll take a little more in depth look into the books chosen by the Randomizer and attempt to do some longer posts.

Now, it's time for the inaugural pull of the randomizer lever to see what book falls into our crosshairs for this week.

And the first one out of the gate is Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #9 from May 1959!

We are in for a treat, as the one-and-only Pat Boone shows up to serenade his biggest fan, Lois Lane! But how does this turn of events threaten to expose Superman's secret identity? You'll just have to come back next week and find out.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

From reading the solicitations of what's being released today, it looks like things with Hector Hammond are going to be heating up in Superman #20.

Hector Hammond is a character that is so closely associated with the Green Lantern family of books, that it got me thinking about if he has ever shown up in a Superman book before. Nothing sprung immediately to mind, but luckily google knows all.

It turns out that he made one solitary appearance (aside from a cameo in a Green Lantern serial when Action Comics was Action Comics Weekly) in the pages of Action Comics #799!

This was during the time period where the art took a decidedly non-traditional look. Very stylized and cartoony, with a definite nod towards the manga sensibility. I'm a big fan of Joe Kelly's run, so I've learned to like the art from this period, but it does take some getting used to.

In fact, if Superman hadn't said his name in this panel, I wouldn't even have recognized good old Hector.

But there he is, in all of his big head glory, in his sole solitary appearance in the Superman books before the current storyline started. He doesn't do much in this story, as he's basically being taken advantage of by another doctor at the prison where he's held. There, he's being forced to mind-control Gorilla Grodd, who naturally gets in a fight with Superman.

All in all, it's a nice stand-alone story, with some interesting layouts and visuals.

Monday, May 20, 2013

For those of you playing along at home with the quiz from our last post, give yourself two super-pats on the back if you were able to deduce that that wasn't actually Superman on the cover of Superman #231 getting pummeled by an orange robot, but Super-Lex!

What's that, you ask? How could this be?

Well, anything's possible with the patented "Imaginary Stories" that populated the Super-titles with varying frequency during the Silver and Bronze Ages.

This particular story had Lex-El, the son of Jor-El, surviving the crash that brought both himself and his father to Earth! Clark, meanwhile, was being experimented on by an evil scientist who implanted a "chromostimulant" into his brain, patterned after the "evil" chromosomes of the centuries most notorious crime couple...Jonathan and Martha Kent!

Forget Super-Lex and Gangster Kent, I want more imaginary stories of Ma and Pa Kent, the Bonnie and Clyde of the DC Universe!

Friday, May 17, 2013

Honestly, we may end up saying the same thing again next year, after this post goes dormant. I'd like to think not, but we shall see.

So yeah, I'm back. In what capacity? That remains to be seen, but I've missed blogging about comics. Superman comics, specifically!! I don't think I'm going to be as bold as last time and try to do a post a day, but we'll see.

To get things started, I just took a random jog through my books and pulled out this one. Superman #231, from November of 1970!

SUPER WHAT?

A precursor to the recent WTF cover gimmick, perhaps?

So what is the cause of so much consternation that they have to question reality right there on the cover?

Here's a multiple choice quiz. Put your Bronze Age Thinking Cap on, and I'll see you in a day or two for the answer.